What's the Craziest Weather You've Raced In?

Sao Silvestre in Sao Paulo Brazil in 2011 was the craziest weather for me. Temps were near 80 before the race. Then a downpour happened and within 30 minutes the roads were rivers. Several inches of rain in about 45 minutes.

Here's a picture of Marilson Gomes dos Santos finishing.

http://img.estadao.com.br/fotos/21/D1/8A/21D18AA40A474BE28C874810EBE0DD2C.jpg

I once did a nordic ski marathon at about -10 F and windy causing a lot of drifting on the course. Based his experience with this sort of thing I'm picking Ben True to put in the surprise performance of the race.

Toledo Marathon in either 1981 or 1982. Was to be a Saturday race, but postponed to Sunday since the bike path next to the river was under water. So race was moved to edge of town and start/finish at a high school. By the 1/2 way turnaround, started to snow, and continued through the whole last 1/2. I did not have another running step left in me by the finish, walked a few feet from the finish into the gym where my wife and good friend were bundled in wool blankets and drinking hot chocolate. All my frozen brain could think was "that looks like a good idea" and I joined them for a very long time until the medical people moved us on so others could do the same thing we had.

Of course, having had a run in Iowa City with the snow so heavy it started to freeze my eyelids shut comes close, as does the early days of dressing in cotton sweats and experiencing a serious case of "frostnip" of the pe*is ranks up there, too.

Unless he's talking about celcius, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it is has NEVER been that cold in Newport News. It would be extremely rare for it to even approach 0F, let alone 17 below. *Maybe* a -17 windchill, but even that would be pretty uncommon.

Unless its between 51 and 58 for my entire race, with no wind and overcast, I don't race.

Signed,

Your typical road runner.

eFarmer wrote:

Unless he's talking about celcius, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it is has NEVER been that cold in Newport News. It would be extremely rare for it to even approach 0F, let alone 17 below. *Maybe* a -17 windchill, but even that would be pretty uncommon.

I think this is kinda like that fish my dad caught when I was a kid...it was probably 2 pounds, but now many years later to hear him tell the story it was a 350 lb Marlin that he fought for 6 hours while only using his bare hands on the back of a rowboat.

In 1991, we had the infamous Halloween blizzard that covered the initial WSUC (now WIAC) conference course that made it completely unrunnable. The meet was moved about 200 miles and postponed one day. At the next day's race, the temps were about 5 degrees, but there was a just nasty wind. Those conditions persisted for the next three weeks until we went to Newport News, VA for nationals. In Newport News, there was record breaking heat. Pretty tough for teams from the midwest.

I think 2009 Chicago Shamrock Shuffle 8k was mentioned on the first page. It snowed/sleeted about 5-6 inches overnight and kept going through the morning. Around 4 miles, coming around a turn, I stepped on a manhole cover covered in snow, slipped, and fell. I felt like Charlie Brown having the football pulled away going for a kick. The wind & sleet just stung the whole time.

1989 English National Cross. 9 miles, 3 laps, 2000 runners on the line. Pouring rain, mud so deep you taped your spikes to your feet. So crowded and muddy, you had to run with hands on the guy in front's back and with the converse true as well.

Tons of fun!

Chris Wasnetsky wrote:

2011 conference race on either Halloween or the day before; the freak snowstorm that hit the northeast. I'm sure Robert remembers it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcDN3viWy_I

Not frigid temperatures like the first two posters have raced in, but it was tough running in the snow because it would pelt your eyes.

Part of what makes running in the snow bearable is that, as long as you layer up, at least you'll be dry. What really made that Heps so tough was that at the beginning of the race it was actually raining, so as the race went on, as it got colder and the freezing rain turned into a blizzard, everything and everyone was soaking wet, making the course that much sloppier and making everyone that much colder.

.quote]UWL wrote:

In 1991, we had the infamous Halloween blizzard that covered the initial WSUC (now WIAC) conference course that made it completely unrunnable. The meet was moved about 200 miles and postponed one day. At the next day's race, the temps were about 5 degrees, but there was a just nasty wind. Those conditions persisted for the next three weeks until we went to Newport News, VA for nationals. In Newport News, there was record breaking heat. Pretty tough for teams from the midwest.[/quote]

The WIAA state meet in Wisconsin Rapids got postponed a week because of that 1991 blizzard. The WISAA meet (separate private school state association) was held on the Parkside course in Kenosha. It was only flurrying, but there were extreme negative windchills. Massive arctic winds were coming down the opening straight of the course. As anyone familiar with the Parkside course would know, it made for a brutal first kilometer straight into a relentless bonechilling wind and uphill. All team uniform regulations were waived with the instruction to "keep warm." I've never worn that much for a race and I was still absolutely frozen.

One month later the Kinney Regional was held on the same course in a complete mudbath where you sank in below your ankles on every step. I seem to remember that something like 17:40 got you a ticket to San Diego that day.

I had fun in the cold race; not so much in the mud

lkjklj wrote:

2000 NCAA cross in Ames Iowa. -20 w/windchill. Woke up the morning of and the pond just outside my window of the hotel we were staying at had frozen solid overnight. Thought they were going to cancel it...

Photos from the race, including Kara Grgas and Shalane Flanagan-

Lots of bare legs despite the wind and temp.

InWyo wrote:

The NCAA DII Regional Race in Bellingham WA in 2004. It was about 35-40 degrees and there was standing water on most of the course. Many of my teammates made some decent passes while sliding down hills on their buts.

+1...I also recall there being 2 false starts.

Dsmond wrote:

minus 17 in Virginia back in 1996 at Newport News Park

Must have been wind chill. Not sure I believe it has ever been -17 in Newport News.

Remnants of tropical storm Ike during the Lewis and Clark Marathon/half marathon in 2008. Course was cut to approximately 10 miles mid-race due to flooding. Here's someone else's blog with links to a couple videos. We got lucky that our car wasn't flooded out by the time I finished.

http://runnerkris.blogspot.com/2008/09/lewis-and-clark-half-marathon-vs.html

garland823 wrote:

Dsmond wrote:

minus 17 in Virginia back in 1996 at Newport News Park

Really? Fall XC? I ran probably three times a season there in high school, and it was almost always hot. That's almost unheard of for Southeastern Virginia.

My first collegiate cross country race was during Tropical Storm Ernesto. It wasn't much besides a lot of rain and a lot of wind.

I checked every day from oct 5 to nov 28 and the coldest it got during xc season was +24 F. Dsmond was only off by 41 degrees.

The Salt Lake Winter Series was insane this year. The 5k was blanketed in disgusting thick smog:

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/404484_530768200277813_1573538258_n.jpg

The 10k and 15k were both in a tremendous blizzard:

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/24286_539054972782469_1630325210_n.jpg

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/481891_542011722486794_1025295888_n.jpg

The course should be really flat and fast but most people were 5-10s per mile slower in the 10k than typical half marathon pace, thanks to the huge winds and blinding snow. For me, I signed up for the full series, but had the 15k the weekend before my goal marathon, so I just jogged it to get an easy run in. I can't even imagine how painful it would've been to run hard in those conditions that day...

5k down in south Florida after it had been raining for the entire week previous. Lost both shoes in the mud and it was 95 with 100 percent humidity. I was sweating buckets on the warm-up and proceeded to get ring warm from the mud.

dIII prenats 2004(?) at eau claire.. 33F and pouring rain! wish it would have been colder and snowed instead..